Max's Travels
by Starapollo1
Summary: When I was a kid I used to pretend I was a pokemon trainer. These are the friends I made and the adventures I went on as I remember them currently.
1. A New Day

June 23, 2002

Max sat at the kitchen table and lifted the spoon to his mouth. As he swallowed the last of his cereal he poured himself another bowl of Clefa Puffs. Before he could finish his next bowl his dad came rushing in the room excited and waving his arms around. "We've done it!!"

"What have you done dad?" asked Max.

"We cloned a togepi!!!"

"You did?"

"Yes!! We thought it wasn't possible, all the evidence said… well I have to call Professor Oak!" He rushed over to a phone and dialed. "Hello Professor Oak this is Professor Elm I have an amazing discovery to talk to you about!"

Max took his bowl over to the sink rinsed it and then put it in the dish washer. He left the room and grabbed his brand new back pack. It was decorated with bubbles with a single pokeball on the back. He walked out to the fields of the pokemon. Miltank, taurous, and ponyta galloped about around the yard and Max noticed the grass pokemon happily dancing around the flowers. The sun was rising and the farm was just beginning to come to life. He made his way to the edge of the forest and entered it.

It was dark and the grass at his feet was wet. He continued to walk until he found himself at a large river. There was a log not too far away that went across the river and Max decided to use that to get to the other side. He was careful of his every step not sure how durable the log was.

When he made his way to the other side he jumped off lightly and landed on his feet. He continued through the woods and then heard a snapping twig.

He spun around to see an angry houndour.

"This isn't very good," he muttered. He started to run and the houndour followed. Within seconds the houndoor was almost caught up Max, who was after all only eight. A small pool of water came into view and remembering that houndour was a fire type Max jumped into the pool. Houndour stopped at the pool edge and snarled. It then began to pace around the pool. Max's little legs barely reached the bottom and he on his tip toes just to keep his head above water. A small poliwag pushed Max up above the water and then pushed him out of the pool smiling thinking it had just helped him. It hopped out of the water and then nuzzled against his leg.

The houndour ran at them and realizing the poliwag would be hurt Max grabbed it off the ground, casing houndours to hit him instead. The houndour did a one eighty and came at them again. The poliwag leaped out of Max's arms and sent a huge stream of water at houndour who was hit back into the pool and after yelping rather loudly it jumped out and ran away.

"Thanks so much!" exclaimed Max.

The poliwag jumped up happily.

Max laid down his bag and took out a note book. Before he could even open it the poliwag hopped over to his bag and jumped inside. There was a bright flash of light and when Max checked his bag Poliwag was gone and all that was in the bag was five pokeballs, paper and a pencil.

"Did I just…" He took out the pokeballs and one by one threw them. Out of one of them came the poliwag. It jumped into his arms and Max smiled. "I just a poliwag."

When he returned home that day his dad was waiting anxiously with a surprise visitor.

"Misty!" exclaimed Max.

The tall girl with orange hair sat up, "hey bud!"

They hugged and Max jumped back, "Guess what I got!?"

"What?"

Max spun around with a pokeball and sent it up into the air. Poliwag came out happily and landed on the kitchen floor spinning.

"Wow! You caught a pokemon and you're only eight!"

His dad stood up and gaped, "I'm quite impressed Max, good job!"

"Thanks!"

"Well Max," said Misty wondering out loud. "If it's okay with your dad, I could use an assistant, and I know you love water pokemon… I mean now that you have one of your own…"

Max's face lit up, "Can I dad!?"

His dad bit his lip, "Well… hmm… I think that would be… okay."

Max jumped up, "YA!"

"Well hold on, Misty I will need him back when's he's ten, that way he can officially get his license and all."

"No problem professor, and he'll be with me in my gym so having the pokemon under age won't be a problem."

His dad nodded, "Right…"

"I'm going to start packing!" exclaimed Max.

"Hold on," said his dad. "You will be gone for almost two years… I mean I'll visit occasionally, but otherwise you won't see me… are you sure you are okay with that?"

Max nodded, "I think so."

"Alright then."

Max rushed up stairs to pack. And Misty turned to his dad, resting her hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry Professor Elm, I promise to take great care of him."

February 26, 2003

Max watched as Misty deftly beat the challenger sending his magnemite flying. Max lifted a flag and brought it down. "Magnemite is unable to battle, the winner is the gym leader, Misty and her Starmie!"

The challenger looked down and walked away depressed.

"Hey!" Misty called after him.

He turned around and Misty shook his hand, "Don't' be discouraged, you did a great job!"

He smiled, "You too." With that he left the building.

"That was awesome Misty!"

"Thanks Max."

"Your starmie is so powerful!"

Misty laughed, "It isn't just power that wins battles."

"I know, it's speed, strategy, and power combined."

"Not just those things."

"huh."

"The trainer and the pokemon he or she is using must be close emotionally. You don't always have time to say, 'dodge!' sometimes you have to count on your pokemon, and likewise sometimes it has to count on you to see things it can't. If a pokemon and its trainer aren't close then even strategy , speed, and power wont' be enough."

"Ah…"

"So how about we give that poliwag of yours some more training k?"

"Hey! His name is Bubbles remember!?"

"Oh yeah my bad! Let's do some training with Bubbles."

March 24. 2004

Max pulled his blue fingerless gloves on and adjusted his blue hat.

"I think you're wearing a little too much blue."

Max laughed at Misty's comment and then looked in the mirror. It was true he was wearing blue jeans, a blue t-shirt, blue fingerless gloves and a blue hat, but Max liked the color blue.

Misty went to his dresser and went through the drawers. "Here…" She handed him a black t-shirt, and black fingerless gloves. "This should help."

Max pulled his t-shirt off and put on the black one and likewise replaced his gloves.

"Right," said Misty, "We're almost to New Bark Town."

"Thanks."

She nodded. "And don't forget our visit here has to be short if we have to leave if we want to catch the noon ship that heads back to Kanto. I take it that's where you are going to start your journey?"

Max nodded, "Yeah." He glanced over at the clock and saw that it was quarter after ten.

The ship slowly halted and A small portion of the boats passengers got off.

All Max had was his blue bag, but Misty had felt the need to bring not only a bag of her own but two suitcases. They dragged there stuff over to the large building that was professor Elm's (his dads) house and they knocked. The door swung open and they Max's dad smiling broadly.

"Hey Misty, hey Maxers!!" He embraced Max tightly.

"I can't….. breath…."

"Right, sorry." He loosened his grip.

"I'm so excited, today is after all your tenth birthday!"

Max smiled, "Yes it is."

The group made their way inside and settled down in the living room.

"So I got you something," explained his father. He handed him large box that was wrapped in black wrapping paper. "Go ahead open it!"

Max tentatively opened the box and found inside a few objects. There was the latest version of the pokedex, a greatball, a map, and his personal favorite, a book on water pokemon.

"Thanks a lot dad."

"No problem! And here!" He handed Max a wallet. "There's some money in there for you."

"Awesome," he hugged his dad who hugged back gently.

"I also have something for you," said Misty. She set down one of her suitcases and opened it. Inside was a worn old wooden box that was rectangular. She hadned it to him. "It's my old fishing rod, the one I used when I traveled. There's a bunch of my world famous lure's in there too… speaking of which…" she reached into her bag and handed him to pokeballs. One was blue and the other was a greenish blue with what appeared to be a web on it. "That blue one is a lure ball. Espicially designed to caught pokemon that you're fishing for. And that other one is a net ball. That pokeball works well on all water pokemon and all… bug pokemon."

"Thank you Misty!"

Max hugged her tightly and she laughed. "Your starting to… cut off… circulation…"

Max released her and laughed, "Sorry."

"So before you go let's take some pictures!" exclaimed his dad.

Misty and Max stodd up and started posing randomly. Eventually Misty had her stayu use confusion and have the camera take pictures of all of them.

All too soon though the time had coem for Misty and Max to go.

"Don't forget," said Max's dad. "Professor Oak wants to see you, so when you guys land in Vermillion head to Pallet."

"Gotcha," said Max.

Misty and him boarded the boat.

"See you dad!"

"Bye Professor Elm!"

"See you two! Have fun!!"

Bubbles leaped from its pokeball and smield at Max.

"Hey Bubbles, what do you want to do?"

Bubbles' stomach moaned and Max laughed. He withdrew some pokechow from his bag and set it on the ground for Bubbles to munch on.

Suddenyl smoke filled the deck and there was a loud explosion. A woman with spiky black hair ran by followed by a man with short green hair.

"STOP!"

The two figures that had just ran by spun around. The smoke was blown away and at the other end of the boat was Misty with her starmie.

"Starmie use rapid spin again!"

"Golbat go!" called the man. "Supersonic!"

Starmie stopped its rapid spin and was knocked back.

"Bubbles use water gun!"

The two people not even realizing there was a young boy next to them had no time to dodge.

"Starmie snap out of consuion! Use psychic!"

Starmie shook itself out of its confused state and sent the two people and their golbat flying into the sky.

Misty walked up to Max, "You ok?"

Max nodded, "Yeah I'm fine. Were those members of Team Rocket?"

"No, just common theives. Trust me, Team Rocket is much more organized… and they usually show off. You'll know when it's them. "Right."

The ship started to stop and a cool female voice came over the intercom. "All passengers we are makign our first stop, if your destination is the Seafoam Islands then please head to gate exit A. Thank you."

Several people made their past Max and Misty and left the ship.

Misty glanced down at her watch. "About two more hours till Vermillion."

"Kay."

It was indeed about two hours until the boat stopped at the Vermillion harbor. "All passengers, we are making our second stop, if your destination is Vermillion City then please head to gate exit A. Thank you."

Max and Misty gathered there belongings and headed to gate exit A. There were very few people leaving the boat but even fewer pople walkign about the town.

"This place is so quiet… and dull…" commented Max.

"Vermillion can be like that. Some days it's packed full of people and others it's a complete wasteland. Let's head to the pokemon center okay?"

"Right."

The two made their way to the pokemon center. It was large and rather open with several tables linging the edge of the front lobby.

"Max come with me I'm going to show you how to get a room here."

Misty walked up to the front counter where a Nurse Joy was smilng. "Hello there how can I help you?"

"Could we get a room please?"

"Of course, let me see your trainer ID please."

Misty showed her, her pokedex and the nurse Joy handed her a card.

"Room fifty seven."

"Thanks." Misty went down a hall. "Okay, so after Nurse Joy gives you the room key, you go to your room and simply swipe it-" she swiped the card by a key pad next to the door and it swung open.

The room was fairly large and it had two sets of bunk beds and a desk in the corner.

"Every room at the pokemon center that you can stay in looks like this. So sharing a room with a few friends is never a problem. Back in the front lobby there are also those green phones which I know you have already used before so… that basically covers everything related to the pokemon center. Well beside the healing your pokemon part which we should probably do."

They returned to the main lobby and went up to Nurse Joy.

"Hello again,"said Misty. "My friend and I would like to heal our pokemon."

"Of course!"

Misty handed her six pokeballs first. The Nurse Joy set them in a machine and a few seconds later handed them back. "There you are!"

Misty pketed the pokeballs. "See Max, pokemon centeres have come very far technologically, it used to be whenever a pokemon needed to be healed you had to keep it here over night. Now the only time yo uhave to do that is if your pokemon is severely hurt. Go ahead and give her your pokeball."

Max handed Nurse Joy his pokeball containing Bubbles and a few seconds later it was handed back.

"Thank you, " said Nurse Joy. "Please come again!"

Misty hurriedly headed back to the room and to the desk in the corner. "This p.c. isn't like the ones you play games on, it contains all the information on the pokemon you've caught and you can check anytime. In addition you can store and withdraw pokemon using its storage system. You know about Bill's storage system right?"

Max nodded, "Yeah, you have to remember I grew up with Professor Elm as my dad, I know how to use most of this technology."

"Right," said Misty, "Sorry."

"No it's fine, I've never used one at a pokemon center so it's nice to see how it's done."

Misty nodded and then smiled, "I bet you haven't ever used this before though. She pointed to the goggles hooked up to the computer. "Using those you can battle with friends even when they are hundreds of miles away with your pokemon or battle trainers that don't exist virtually! Of course your pokemon doesn't get any experience but it's a neat way to practice moves and such."

"Wow…" muttered Max. "You're right I've never used that before."

"It's pretty unique. So what are your plans?" asked Misty.

"For traveling?"

Misty nodded.

"Well," said Max. "I am heading to Pallet Town first. Then from there I'll head to Pewter City, probably going through Viridian to get there. From there who knows. Maybe I'll cut through Mount Moon and head for Cerulean City."

"Hmm… sounds like you have plans. Are you going to go for all eight badges? Or are you going to compete in contests?"

"I don't know, really I'm just trying to be the best water pokemon trainer. Maybe I'll get some badges, partake in a contest or two, whatever works."

"That's a good plan."

"Thanks. Umm… where can we get food?"

Misty laughed. "Back in the front lobby. Follow me."

Max followed Misty back to the lobby and she went up to desk near the one by Nurse Joy. There was a small woman behind the counter standing on a stool; even with the stool though she was only able to just peak her head over the counter.

"Hi," said Misty, "could we get some food?"

The woman smiled, "Of course dears. What would you like?"

Max stroked his chin, "What's cheap?"

Misty and the woman laughed.

"At the pokemon center everything is free. They are founded by the government."

"OH….. in that case I would like the biggest steak you have!"


	2. First Battle

March 25, 2004

Max gathered his things the next morning and waved farewell to Misty. She headed north to Cerulean while Max decided to cut through the western grasslands on his journey to Pallet Town.

As he made his way out of Vermillion he came across two trainers battling. Both were boys and one of the trainers was short and plump while the other was tall and skinny.

The short plump man called out to his pidgey, "Gust!"

"Dodge!"

A male nidoran jumped out of the way of the gust.

"Horn attack!"

"Gust!"

Nidoran went to ram pidgey with its horn but was blown away by the sudden burst of wind. The nidoran fell and fainted.

"I win! I win!"

The tall skinny kid recalled his nidoran. "Good match."

"Yeah, yeah," muttered the short kid.

"Hey!" called Max finally reaching talking distance of the two boys. "Do either of you want to battle?"

The short kid recalled his pidgey and smiled, "Of course."

"One on one okay with you?"

"Yep." The kid tossed out a pokeball. "Go Rattata!"

"Go Bubbles." Max threw a pokeball up into the air.

Bubbles positioned himself awaiting its next orders.

"Bubbles use hypnosis!"

"Dodge!"

Rattata rolled out of the way of the clear rings just in time.

"Rattata tackle!"

Taking Bubbles off guard, the rattata rammed Bubbles squarely in the chest, knocking him back.

"Bubble!"

Bubbles sent a field of bubbles at the rattata who barely dodged yet again.

"Tackle!"

"Again?" questioned Max. "Bubbles go to the sky!"

Bubbles used his back tail to propel himself into the air out of reach of the attack.

"Bubbles use bubble!"

Another series of bubbles went toward the rattata and this time it couldn't dodge. The hit was critical and it was drastically weakened. Bubbles continued its attacks until rattata fainted.

"What!?"

"Good job Bubbles!"

Bubbles jumped into Max's arms and he hugged him tightly.

His opponent whined and Max held out his hand, "Good job."

The kid continued to whine and ran away.

Max raised his eyebrows questioning his opponent's actions.

He continued on his path cutting through a small patch of woods and all too soon he was trampled by a tall kid with long curly brown hair in sunglasses.

As Max lay on the ground he found himself very confused, "What the…"

"Sorry kid!"

Max stood up, "What was that for!?"

All too soon he was answered. A large swarm of beedrill angrily buzzed and quickly flew toward him.

"Oh crap…"

Max started to run after the boy with brown hair barely staying ahead of the beedrill. The taller boy spun around his sunglasses gleaming in the light.

"Go Vulpix! Ember!"

He threw a pokeball and a vulpix was called out. After taking a deep breath it sent a flourishing wave of fire at the incoming beedrill.

Many of them fell but the few that didn't became angry and attacked more aggressively.

"Bubbles use hypnosis!" called Max.

The clear rings sent several more to sleep and only two remained.

"Tackle!" called both Max and the stranger in unison.

Bubbles and Vulpix rammed the remaining two causing them both to faint.

"Nice shot!" commented Max.

"Thanks."

Unfortunately some of the beedrill started to recover.

"Let's get out of here," called the stranger. He started to run.

Max followed the stranger into a clearing leaving the beedrill behind. He turned to Max and nodded.

"Thanks kid."

"No problem…" Max looked around, it had just hit him that he had no idea where he was anymore. "Umm… I hate to be rude, but do you know how to get to Pallet?"

"Uh… well I know how… But I'm actually heading to Viridian you want to catch a lift with me?"

"A lift?"

The stranger laughed and lifted a gun into the air.

"What are you doing!?"

He pulled the trigger and a small flare went into the air. Soon a small hot air balloon lowered itself to the ground. A bulbasaur hopped out of the balloon and smiled at the stranger.

"Good job!" he encouraged.

"How are you?" asked Max.

"I'm Frank Hess."

"Wait…." Max pondered the name. "You don't mean, the Frank Hess! You're the youngest vice president of Hestech!"

Frank laughed, "Yes, I'm _the_ Frank Hess. And it isn't that big of a deal, the only reason I have this job is because of my dad."

"But the papers you've published!? You're the youngest person to publish a paper on pokemon evolution!"

"Well," he smiled, "that is a big deal."

Max marveled at him.

"So do you want a lift or not?"

Max snapped back into reality, "Oh yeah, right, ummm… okay."

Frank, after petting his bulbasaur, recalled it and swung himself into the balloon. Max shortly after.

"So what's your name?"

"I'm Max. I'm from New Bark Town."

"New bark town, interesting, so you got your starter from Elm?"

"No, I caught mine about two years ago."

"Really? That's impressive, what are you? Ten, eleven?"

"Ten and a day!"

"Then that is very interesting.. So what brings you to the Kanto region Max?"

"Well, I'm here to do research and train water pokemon!"

Frank froze, "You research pokemon?"

"Yeah…"

"What is with all these new trainers thinking they can be these great publishers, and scientists when they have only been training for like a day!"

"HEY! I have been researching pokemon my whole life!"  
"Really, where?"

"At my father's farm!"

"And who's your father?"

"Professor Elm!"

"Oh… well that changed things a little bit, but not the fact that you're still young and have much to learn. You wouldn't last ten seconds in a battle against me."

Max bit his bottom lip. Sadly, Frank was probably right, but he couldn't bring himself to admit it out loud.

"That's what I thought."

Max tried to change the subject. "There's the city below."

"Right." He pulled a string and then pushed a lever and soon they were sailing smoothly to the ground.

When they reached it they both stepped out and started toward the pokemon center.

It was dark but it seemed exactly like the one in Vermillion except with fewer tables.

Max headed up to the counter and handed Bubble's pokeball over to nurse joy. Then he turned back to Frank. "So what pokemon do you have? Can I see them?"

"Uh… why not." Frank grabbed a few pokeballs from his bag. "Come on out guys."

A raticate, ivysaur, golbat, nidorino and a vulpix came out his pokeballs.

"Those are some awesome pokemon!"

Frank laughed, "Ivysaud was my first back when he was a bulbasaur, then I caught a rattata, so that was my first ever catch. Then I caught a female nidoran and a male nidoran but I traded the female for this one girl's vulpix… then I found zubat in mount moon that's where my bulbasaur evolved. Then my rattata evolved while in cerulean and my male nidoran evolved after that and then my zubat evolved soon after _that_. I know what you're thinking. Wait, you're a researcher and you have like five pokemon? But I've caught a ton more, it's just that these are the five that work best for me."

"That's awesome!" Max suddenly felt very bad about the one pokemon he had in his bag.

"Thanks. What pokemon do you have?"

Max shifted uncomfortable. "Well… only my poliwag but he's really strong! I just got my trainer's license see…"

"What!? You only just got it!"

"Well yeah… but I've had my poliwag for like two years so he's pretty strong

"Yeah… you already said that…"

Nurse Joy handed Max's poliwag back to him, "Your poliwag was already at full health he was just a little afraid that's all."

"Thank you nurse Joy," said Max.

"No problem!" she responded.

Frank collected a room key and Max followed him to a room.

"What are you doing?" Frank asked.

"I figured I bunk with you! Each room has like four beds anyways!"

"Okay, listen kid. I could mention how creepy it is that you're following me into my bedroom, but something tells me you're going to stay here anyways… so listen. You stay on that side of the room," he pointed to the side opposite him, "I'll stay on my side."

"Got it."

March 26, 2004

Max awoke the next morning to a pidgey's call. He showered and then changed into the same jeans and black t as yesterday. He saw that Frank's bags were already gone and so Max decided to head to the front lobby. He picked up a piece of toast from the food counter and then saw Frank exiting the building.

"Hey Frank!" called Max. He proceeded to run and catch up to him. He pulled out his pokegear and gestured to it. "Would you mind putting your number in?"

Frank raised his eyebrows, "Why do you want my number?"

"You're the first trainer I've met who seems to have real talent, and you've earned my respect. Well… after the beedrill incident at least."

Frank laughed, "Well you did help me out a bit I guess…" he took Max's pokegear and inputted his number. "There you are."

"Thanks!"

"So you off to Pallet?"

"Yeah."

"Say hi to Professor Oak for me."

"You know the professor?"

"Ya."

"Oh, well alright then… see you!"

"See you Max."

Max made his way south on his road to Pallet while Frank proceeded to a nearby building.

The grassy plains were filled with a variety of pokemon all running about happily. He walked slowly to take in the sights. The sun was bright and the green grass swayed with the light wind. There were pokemon everywhere prancing about and enjoying the beautiful day. Max decided to take a break to examine the pokemon and take notes.

After jotting down the movements the rattata took to get to the food Max had laid out, he gathered his stuff.

"Looking for this?"

Max looked up to see a young man with messy black hair holding his pencil case.

Max took the pencil. "Thank you."

"No problem. I'm Tracey, and you are?"

"I'm Max… Max Elm, I think we've met before."

"Oh wow, I didn't even recognize you, but that name does sound very familiar. Regardless, professor Oak is expecting you. Here just follow me back."

Max proceeded to follow Tracey and the soon came upon a small town. Heading to the heart of it, they reached a gate. Beyond the gate was a small path leading up a hill where a windmill research lab stood. Beyond that, Max knew, lay the ever expanding farm where all the pokemon were.

Tracey took out a set of keys and started to unlock the gates.

"Wont' be too long," he muttered.

The gates clinked open and Max and Tracey walked up the path to the main lab. The white door creaked open and inside behind a bubbling pot of soup was professor Oak.

"Max! Tracey!" he called.

He ran out from behind the soup and shook both of their hands quickly. "Tracey, would you mind heading out and feeding the ponyta's there acting up?"

"No problem." With that Tracey left out the back.

"So Max, I know that you have a lot to do so I'll cut straight to the chase. I always give a beginning pokemon to beginner trainers, so come this way, I have decided to give you one."

Professor Oak walked over to a large half sphere. He pressed the top of it and it disappeared to reveal three rows, each with ten pokeball slots, currently there was only one pokeball in the top one, two in the middle row, and two in the bottom row.

"So Max. The top row pokeball has a bulbasaur, the two in the middle row have charmander's, and the four on the bottom have squirtle in them."

"Why are there uneven amounts?"

"Well I start the day with ten in each row. Ten charmander, ten squirtle, and ten bulbasaur. Bulbasaur seem to the trainer favorite right now that's why we only have one left. But any who, just choose a pokemon."

Max looked at the pokeball's briefly and quickly grabbed a squirtle pokeball.

"Ah, so squirtle the water pokemon?"

Max nodded, and put a sticker of a shell on the pokeball.

"Are you going to name it?"

Max stroked his chin. "Yeah… we'll call him… Squirt!" With that, Max threw the pokeball into the air. "Come on out Squirt!"

"So Max I trust you'll be staying the night?"

Max nodded, "If that's alright with you."  
"It is." Professor Oak hesitated. "So what have you decided to do with yoru life?"

"I want to be a world class water pokemon trainer."

"Interesting, if you're wondering your room is down the hall."

Max headed down the hall and went into the room. He set down the bag and looked in it. There were a few magazines in there. He browsed through the first one called "Trainers Weekly" and he flipped to a page called "Training the Right way."

_Most trainers before setting off on their journey's decide what they're going to do. Take the gym challenge, participate in contests, or just befriend them. However this week we talked to pokemon trainer Nando who says that the approach so often taken is wrong… (read below)_

"_Trainers think that to be good they should focus in one aspect, contests OR gym battles. I think that the only way to be a good trainer is to do both. Even if you aren't good at it, it gives your pokemon new experiences and it allows you to exit your comfort zone and work hard in areas you're not good in. It also allows you to work with your own pokemon in different ways and find their own strengths and what they're good at. If you are a new trainer, or even an old pro I urge you to try new things and better your pokemon's abilities. I wish you all the best of luck."_

_To read more interviews with other trainers like famed, Ash Ketchum turn to page…_

Max set the magazine down and considered the words of wisdom. If he was going to be the greatest water trainer he would have to really consider what the article said.


	3. Viridian Forest

March 27, 2004

Max called out Squirt and Bubble and happily gave them both some pokemon food.

"So guys, I thought we could do a bit of training today. See I want to be a water master and after being at Oak's lab I think in order to become the best water pokemon trainer that we need to practice.

Bubbles and Squirt gave him odd looks.

"We need to work in all areas. So let's start by just doing some exercises I learned from one of the magazines in Oak's lab. I want you both to just use a water gun straight up in the air."

The two streams of water were shot. While Bubbles was thick and strong Squirt's was a bit thinner and didn't reach as high.

"Ok, Squirt I want you to use water gun on what I throw into the air. Bubbles could you just do some running around to work on your speed."

Max looked around for something to throw and saw a small group of rocks next to him on the ground. He picked up and found it to be somewhat heavy; perfect for testing Squirt's strength.

"Go!" He launched the rock into the air using all the strength he had.

Squirt shot a stream of water at the rock that hit and knocked it to the ground.

"That was good Squirt, but we're trying to destroy the rock not just push it, okay?"

Squirt nodded.

"Right, let's try again, and good job on your running Bubbles!"

Bubbles spun around and smiled, "Poliwag!"

Their training continued until Max and his pokemon found themselves in need of food. Max pulled out to pokechow containers and lifted the seals off, his pokemon dug in. Then he pulled out a protein bar and slowly ate it. It was approaching night and he could already see the sun start to set. After they ate he headed to Viridian where he got a room.

March 28, 2004

The next morning Max woke up and headed to the pokemart to pick up some potions. The blue building was filled with shelves upon shelves full of all sorts of potions and other remedies. Max selected three potions off a lower shelf and went up to the front counter. He reached into his wallet and withdrew nine hundred dollars which was the cost and then left the store.

As he walked out he ran into a girl with curly red hair. And not just red hair, but actual, bright red hair, as if someone had smeared her hair with bright red paint and made it look somehow natural and… good.

"Watch where you're going!" shouted the girl.

"Hey you ran into me!?" retorted Max.

The girl flipped her bouncy hair over her shoulder and grabbed a pokeball from her belt. "Let's battle!"

Max was a little taken aback by her boldness but decided that a battle wouldn't hurt. "Okay, name your terms."

"Three on three!?"

Max hesitated, "I don't have three pokemon…"

The girl raised her eyebrows, "Fine, two on two?"

Max nodded, "Got it. I'll even choose my pokemon first." He spun around and threw a pokeball high into the air. "Go Squirt!"

The girl smiled and sent out a bulbasaur. "Weedwacker! Use tackle!"

Her bulbasaur, Weedwacker, jumped toward Squirt.

"Squirt dodge!"

Weedwacker rammed Squirt who was unable to dodge and sent it flying back.

"Squirt use bubble!"

"Weedwacker use vine whip!"

Weedwacker's vines cut through the bubbles swiftly.

"Come on Squirt, use tackle!"

"Jump!"

Weedwacker leaped up into the air and Squirt's attack missed.

"Squirt use water gun!"

Squirt's water attack easily hit Weedwacker who was right above him and vulnerable.

"Weedwacker body slam!"

"Body slam?" questioned Max.

Weedwacker came down with severe force and Squirt not knowing what to do, suffered the full extent of the attack. When Weedwacker lifted itself off of Squirt it was clear that Squirt was unable to battle.

"Return Squirt! You did great!" Max recalled the pokemon and sent out his next pokemon. "Go Bubbles!"

"Weedwacker use vine whip!"

"Bubbles grab the vines and toss it!"

Weedwackers vines were caught by Bubbles who began to spin and then threw the pokemon.

"Water gun!"

Bubbles shot a thick stream of water at the exposed Weedwacker who consequently fainted.

The girl returned Weedwacker and sent out a gloom.

"Gloom use acid!"

"Water gun!"

The two attacks met and they seemed evenly matched. There was a mini explosion and both flew back.

"Mega drain Gloom!"

"Bubbles use water gun!"

The attacks were even only for a second. All two soon the mega drain overcame the water gun and Bubbles flew back taking severe damage. Bubbles was unable to battle and so Max recalled him.

"Good job Bubbles," muttered Max.

"Looks like I win," smiled the girl.

Max looked up, more than a little disappointed. "Good job."

The girl walked up to him and held out her hand, "You did well too, if I hadn't had the type advantage who knows you might have won."

"Thanks… I'm Max by the way."

"Jezebel."

Max started to walk away but Jezebel called after him.

"Hey!" She pulled out a pokegear. "Can you input your phone number?"

"Sure," he pulled out his own. They exchanged there pokegears and each inputted their numbers.

"See you around Max, You too!"

Max headed back to the pokemon center and went up to the front desk.

"Umm… Nurse Joy."

Nurse Joy smiled, "What do you need?"

"I was wondering where I could get a badge case and a contest case?"

"Well I have some cases. Could I see your license?"

Max nodded and handed it over to her. She slid it in to the computer and soon took it out handing it back. She then bent over and withdrew two cases from a bottom shelf. Then she handed them to Max. One of the cases had a picture of a pokeball and the other had a picture of a ribbon.

"Thanks Nurse Joy."

"No problem."

Max proceeded to hand over his pokeballs, "Can you heal these?"

"Of course!"

Nurse Joy slid them into a machine and a few second later handed them back. "Here they are!"  
"Thanks again."

"NO problem… again!"

Max smiled and then left the center. By tomorrow he would be in Viridian Forest and he couldn't wait to take on the wild. His loss to Jezebel would not discourage him for he had the whole world ahead of him.

April 2, 2004

Max wandered through the forest completely and utterly lost. His first two days had been filled with nothing but boring wild bug pokemon which his pokemon had easily been able to beat. In addition he had somehow taken a wrong turn bringing him to his current predicament.

Max withdrew his map booklet yet again and flipped to the page on the Viridian Forest. After examining it for a few minutes he resided to the fact that he was doomed to wander this forest forever.

He walked into a small clearing when a small kid jumped down from a tree. He was wearing shorts, a T-shirt, and on his head he was wearing a hat.

"Who are you?" asked Max.

"I'm the greatest bug catcher in the world! And you are my next prey!"

Max raised his eye brows, "Really?"

"Indeed!" The bug catcher threw his pokeball out and smiled. "Go my precious Metapod!"

A metapod rolled out of the pokeball.

Max spun around and threw out a pokeball. "Go Squirt!"

"Metapod use string shot and tackle!"

"Squirt dodge and use bubble!"

Metapod shot a string at a tree and then propelled itself toward Squirt. Squirt jumped out of the way and sent a flourish of bubbles at the metapod who took a lot of damage.

"Metapod use string shot!"

Metapod turned and shot the sticky string at Squirt who became entangled.

"Attempt to break through the string!"

Squirt struggled against the sticky bonds but was unable to break through.

"Metapod use the string shot tackle combo."

Metapod used string shot on a tree and propelled itself toward Squirt who was unable to dodge.

"Come on Squirt break through the bonds!"

Squirt struggled against the sticky string but eventually broke through.

"Good job! Now use bubble!"

Squirt sent a series of bubbles at Metapod who flew back ramming into a tree. Suddenly a brilliant flash of light lit the small clearing and when it cleared Squirt had evolved into a wartortle.

"Awesome Squirt!"

"Metapod use string shot!"

"Squirt catch it and throw!"

Squirt grabbed hold of the incoming string and gripped tightly in its hand. Then it sent it flying across the field ramming into another tree. Metapod fainted and the bug catcher returned him.

He spun around and sent out another pokeball, "Go Venonat!"

A venonat came out of the pokeball anxiously.

"Squirt use bubble!"

"Venonat dodge and use leech life!"

Venonat's speed was impressive and it easily dodged the bubbles. Then it hit Squirt with a leech life.

"Squirt use water gun!"

"Dodge!"

Venonat flipped out of the way.

"Confusion Venonat!"

"Squirt try to dodge!"

Squirt was unable to dodge and was hit by the powerful confusion. Squirt lifted itself off of the ground and Max could tell he was getting tired.

"Squirt return!"

Max recalled Squirt and took out another pokeball. "Go Bubbles!"

Bubbles flipped out of pokeball.

"Use hypnosis!"

Venonat jumped out of the way.

"Bombard Venonat with water gun!"

Venonat jumped about avoiding the streams of water.

"Confusion!"

The water approaching Venonat stopped in the air as if time itself had stopped. Then it reversed direction and the streams all shot toward Bubbles.

"Bubbles get up into the air."

Bubbles used its tail and hit itself up into the air out of the way of the streams.

"Venonat use supersonic!"

"Bubbles water gun!"

Bubbles' water gun, shot straight through the sound waves and scored a direct hit. On the other hand, Venoanat's attack also hit Bubbles leaving it a bit confused.

Venonat was now in critical condition.

"Bubbles use water gun!"

Bubbles tripped over itself in the confusion.

"Venonat use leech life!"

Venonat's attack hit and it regained some health.

"Bubbles use water gun!"

Bubbles pulled itself together long enough to fire a powerful stream of water at Venonat which hit and caused Venonat to faint.

"Return Venonat…" The bug catcher recalled the pokemon. "I can't believe I lost…"

Max hugged Bubbles and then recalled him. "Good job buddy!"

The bug catcher started to slink away.

"Hey!" called Max.

"What?"

"Do you know how to get out of here?"

"Huh?"

"Do you know how to get out of this forest?"

"OH… yeah…" the bug catcher smiled, regaining his confidence. "Right this way!"

Max followed the bug catcher through the tall trees until it was dark out.

"Can we hurry this up?" asked Max, "I'd like to spend the night in the center."

The bug catcher laughed, "That's the problem with these trainers now-a-days. No one is willing to just get dirty, camp in the wild."

Max found himself taken aback, sure he would prefer to sleep in the center but he wasn't entirely opposed to sleeping out here. Of course he didn't have a tent.

The bug catcher sighed, "Come on we'll have you to Pewter soon."

The continued on their path until a booming voice filled the clearing.

Prepare for trouble

Make it double

To protect the world from devastation

To unit all peoples within our nation

To protect the evils of truth and love

To extend our reach to the stars above

Clea!

Patra!

Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light

Surrender now or prepare to fight!

"Team Rocket!" called Max.

"That's right," said a female dropping down from a tree. She was dressed in black spandex with a large red, 'r' on the chest. She had long black hair that was barely distinguishable in the dim night.

Another female dropped down wearing the same clothes but with short spiky green hair. She lifted up a gun and pointed it directly at Max. "Give us your pokemon, now."

Max shifted uncomfortable and the bug catcher grinded his teeth. Max noticed him grab something at his belt.

"Kakuna use stringshot!"

A kakuna came out of his pokeball and fired a string shot at the gun. Then it pulled it out of the girl's hand.

Max grabbed Bubbles' pokeball and threw it sending him into the battle.

"Bubbles use hypnosis!"

The two females cart wheeled out of the way of the hypnosis.

"Clea!" called the girl with green hair. "Pull out your gun!"

The woman named Clea pulled out a gun and pointed it at Max. "Let's talk rationally, you have two choices. Hand me the pokemon and not get hurt. Or don't hand over the pokemon we shoot you and then take your pokemon."

Max hesitated, there wasn't exactly a right answer here.

"Kakuna use string shot!"

Clea spun around and shot Kakuna.

"Harden!"

The bullet sped through the air but simply fell to the ground once it touched Kakuna. Clea shot again and again and the bug catcher just kept ordering his kakuna to use harden.

"Bubbles water gun!"

Bubbles hit Clea with a stream of water and the gun flew out of her hand. She grabbed at her belt and threw a pokeball up into the air. "Go Arbok!"

An arbok slid form the pokeball and into the clearing.

Patra aso grabbed at her belt and threw out a pokeball, hers contained a golbat. "Golbat use supersonic!"

"Arbok use poison sting!"

"Bubbles use hypnosis!"

"Kakuna use harden!"

The poison sting was blocked by Kakuna's harden and the hypnosis and supersonic cancelled each other out.

"Arbok use dig!"

"Golbat use bite!"

"Kakuna use poison sting!"

"Bubbles use water gun!"

Arbok dove underground avoiding Kakuna's poison sting. Golbat dodged the series of water guns shot by Bubbles and then bit him hard. Arbok soon came crashing out of the ground and rammed Kakuna doing critical damage.

"We need to get out of here!" bellowed Max.

"Psychic!"

Out of nowhere a slowbro appeared and sent both Arbok and Golbat flying back with a powerful psychic attack.

"Let's go." came a gruff voice.

Max spun around to see Frank, his sunglasses gleaming in the moonlight.

"Come on!" he called.

Max didn't need to be told yet again. He ran toward Fritz followed by the bug catcher.

"Slowbro Kadabra use confusion!"

As Frank's kadabra sent the two women flying back again the three of them made their way to the edge of the forest and into the outskirts of Pewter City. Max, the bug catcher and Frank grabbed a hold of the slowbro and teleported away.

"Thank you so much Frank," said Max once they were safe in the pokemon center.

"No problem, but I'd prefer if I didn't have to save you from Team Rocket."

"They ambushed us!" retorted the bug catcher.

"Yeah well you're going to have to get used to that cause they tend to do that. Now I'm already late for a meeting in Cerulean so I need to leave. Bye."

Max waved as Frank walked away, his curly brown hair swaying cockily. Max then got a room, feeling like absolute crap and went to bed.


	4. A Rockin' Contest

April 3, 2004

Max tossed up the two pokeballs he had and Bubbles and Squirt came out. "Okay guys let's train! Squirt we're going to work on a new move, rapid spin. And Bubbles, we haven't given much attention to body slam, so we're going to really hammer on that today."

Bubbles and Squirt nodded.

"Bubbles I want you to simply inhale and then jump onto the ground. We really need to get this power, down. And Squirt I want you to withdraw yourself into your shell and just spin."

Bubbles jumped onto the ground and made no impact. Squirt withdrew into his shell and spun but nothing happened with the exception of him getting a bit sick.

"Okay guys that was okay for a first attempt but we need to really work at this. I would like to battle Brock today or tomorrow so let's keep at it. Bubbles, try jumping, it might help you get the collective force you need. And Squirt just focusing on the spinning."

Bubbles leaped into the air and came down making a very small imprint in the ground. Squirt spun around quickly and made the dust around him rise up.

"Okay guys, that was okay. Bubbles we're going to have to improve that power though, it's not where I would like it."

Bubbles nodded. Max reached down to his bag and withdrew three Frisbees.

"Okay, so now that you can actually do the move we need to apply it. Squirt use rapid spin, and Bubbles use body slam."

Max threw two Frisbees at Squirt and one at Bubbles. Bubbles collapsed on top of the Frisbee and easily brought it down. Squirt was spinning fast but when the two Frisbees hit the rapid spin he flew back and rubbed his head.

"Good job Bubbles, but remember a Frisbee is light and your opponent won't be. Squirt this is what I was worried about. Your form for rapid spin is excellent but a key use of rapid spin is as a defense mechanism, we need to maximize its power to block attacks. Let's try yet again."

Nurse Joy handed his two pokeballs back. "Your pokemon are fully healed. Have a good day."

"Thanks," replied Max. He left the center and made his way to the gym.

The gym was relatively small and the double doors burst open and Jezebel came out happily.

"Jezebel?"

Jezebel turned to Max and smiled, "Hey there Maxie!"

"Did you just battle Brock?"

Jezebel laughed, "Battled and won! I really must be off though! The Pewter City contest begins soon and I need to prep!"

"You're entering a contest?"

"Of course!"

"Wow… what tiem does it start?"

Jezebel pulled out her pokegear and checked the time, "In about an hour is when it starts."

"I'll be sure to be there."

"Thanks! Well… see you later!"

Max waved as she skipped away. He pushed open the doors and saw Brock waiting.

"Wow, today's a busy day, you're my third challenger."

"Awesome," commented Max. "So can we go ahead?"

Brock nodded as he took two pokeballs from his assistant. "Yeah, I'll use two you'll use two and I can't make substitutions, clear?"

Max nodded.

"Right well I choose first." Brock tossed out a ball, "Geodude go!"

Max took a deep breath, "Go… Squirt!"

Squirt flipped out standing confidently.

"Geodude use tackle!"

"Squirt use water gun!"

Geodude charged Squirt just to be shot back by a powerful water attack.

"Geodude use tack again!"

"Repeat water gun!"

Again Squirt hit back the geodude with a water stream and the geodude fainted.

Brock recalled his geodude and then threw out another pokeball. "Go Onix."

"Squirt use water gun!"

"Onix bide!"

Onix took the attack.

"Squirt we've already done damage so there's no point in waiting and doing nothing. Hit him hard with another water gun!"

Squirt fired a thick stream of water and the onix took some serious damage.

"Onix unleash energy!"

"Squirt rapid spin!"

Squirt spun around but the force unleashed by Onix was too great. Squirt fainted.

"Return Squirt and good job." Max recalled Squirt. "Go! Bubbles!"

"Onix use rock throw!"

"Water gun!"

Bubbles knocked the incoming rocks out of the air.

"Bubbles use water gun!"

"Tackle!"

Onix dove at Bubbles who jumped into the air and shot a stream of water. Onix fainted and there was a bright flash of light. Seconds later Bubbles had evolved into a poliwhirl.

"Sweet Bubbles!"

Bubbles jumped up, "Poli-poli!"

Brock walked over to Max and handed him a small rock. "Here's the Boulder Badge."

"Thank you," said Max.

"No problem."

Max hurried out of the gym and went to the pokemon center. After healing his pokemon he made his way to the contest hall in town.

A woman with blonde red curls stepped to center stage. "Hello everyone I'm Lillian and I'll be your host today! This is Pewter city's first ever contest and I know that everyone here is very excited to take home the first ever Pewter City Ribbon!"

The audience roared with applause.

"Now we'll have our contestants go back stage and I'll introduce our judges!"

The contestants moved back stage and Max didn't see the girl in pink gown. In fact everyone who was going back stage looked completely normal when it came to clothes.

"Our judges are!" Lillian walked over to the four judges. "We have Mr. Contesta! Mr. Sukizo! Nurse Joy! And our special judge for this contest only, BROCK!" She crammed the mike to his face.

This however was a bad idea because Brock's eyes grew incredibly large and he leaped across the podium.

"OH LILLIAN MY HEART YEARNS FOR YOU!"

Lillian stepped away and Brock crashed down to the ground.

"Let's start with our first contestant, Ashley!"

A girl with a slim cut lengthy pink dress and blonde hair stepped out. She was wearing a tiara on her head and in the tip of the tiara where a jewel would normally be was a small pokeball.

She opened her arms wide and the pokeball flashed. When the light was gone a jigglypuff was sitting cozily in her hair, fitting nicely in the tiara.

"Jiggle," said the girl calmly. "Jump and use double team!"

Jigglypuff jumped up and split into ten jigglypuff all of which landed softly.

"Inflate and use defense curl!"

The ten jigglypuff inflated and were lifted into the air. Then they started to glow.

"Just look at that beautiful light!" exclaimed Lillian.

"Now spin original take out the others Jiggle!"

The original jigglypuff stopped glowing and began to spin. It bounced from copy to copy and when making contact with each one it exploded in a beauty of light.

"Magnificent!" said Lillian.

Jiggle bounced up and landed solidly on Empress' head. She posed and the audience roared with applause.

"Well thank you Ashley! Next up we have Jezebel!"

Jezebel came to stage, her red curls bouncing. She was wearing a long green dress and she sent out her ivysaur. She then threw four Frisbees in the air.

"Ivysaur use vine whip!"

Ivysaur hit them all down toward Jezebel who caught them flawlessly.

"Now use poison powder! Then use leech seed!"

Ivysaur released a stream of powders into the air, but before they could spread he released the leech side which wrapped its way around the spores. The poison reacted with the leech seed causing the vines to glow and the powder to sparkle.

"What a spectacular combo!" announced Lillian.

The rest of Jezebel's appeal went by just as well and all too soon the appeals were over.

"Aright," said Lillian. "Here are the results!"

The picture up was of Jezebel, then three others that Max didn't recognize, then the fourth was of Ashley and then four others that again he didn't recognize.

The first battle was between Jezebel and another kid and she creamed him with her gloom Along with her next opponent. Likewise, Ashley creamed both of her opponents with a female nidoran. This lead to the final match between Jezebel and Ashley.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Lillian announced. "We are proud to present our final two contestants! Ashley from Mount Moon Town, and Jezebel from Lee manor!"

"Two rich kids… surprise, surprise," muttered a nearby audience member.

"One of these too lucky coordinators will walk away with the Pewter ribbon!"

The audience cheered.

"Let the match… begin!"

"Come on out Gloom!"

"Settle this Spike."

On one side of the field stood Gloom proud and dignified and on the other, positioned carefully was a female nidoran.

"Gloom use stun spore!"

"Spike fury swipes!"

Spike went to attack but the spores landed on him and he stood perfectly still. The bar of points by Ashley's name went down.

"Hmm… the stun spore hit… too bad," commented Max.

"Gloom use absorb!"

"Spike come on, shake it off! Now dodge and use bite!"

Spike leaped up in the air and went to strike downward, teeth bared. Jezebel lost a few points but was still ahead of Ashley.

"Gloom, grab Spike with vine whip and throw him down."

Two vines came out of Gloom's top flower bud and grabbed hold of Spike. It then threw him to the ground. Ashley points continued to fall.

"Spike use scratch!"

Spike leapt toward Gloom and got in a good scratch before being thrown off by a cut attack.

Ashley and Jezebel lost points and Ashley was running dangerously low with only a minute and a half to go.

"Spike use tackle!"

Spike went to move but was completely paralyzed.

The frustration on Ashley face was obvious and she was starting to lose her cool.

"Gloom finish it with acid!"

A stream of thick acid shot at Spike and he flipped back crashing into the ground. He wasn't gone but still Ashley lost even more points putting her almost out for the count.

"DING!"  
The timer clicked and time ran out. On the screen the winner was proclaimed as Jezebel.

The audience cheered and Max made sure to clap especially hard.

Jezebel cheered and hugged her gloom. Then she shook Jezebel's hand and walked up to Lillian to accept the Pewter city ribbon.

Behind stage Max congratulated both girls who were talking excitedly.

"Ladies those were excellent performances."

Jezebel nodded, "Thanks Max."

Ashley gave him an odd look, "Thanks."

Max held out his hand, "Hi I'm Max."

Ashley held out hers, "I'm Ashley."

"Ashley and I have been rivals since we were kids!" exclaimed Jezebel. "We met because our families both went to the Safari zone every summer and one day we were catching pokemon and… well we had a little argument over one of them!"

Ashley laughed, "Yeah, this is the second contest we've both competed in. I mean, the last one we competed in we both didn't make it past the first round. But then I competed in the Wisteria town and won my first ribbon."

"And I competed in Silver Town's and won my first ribbon." Interrupted Jezebel.

"Any who, we both heard about the contest in Pewter and we called each other and decided to both compete."

Max nodded processing it, "Cool."

"So where you off to now Ashley?" asked Jezebel.

"I think to Pallet or something, I think they have a contest. You?"

"I'm heading to Mulberry to train a bit. What about you Max?"

"I'm heading to Cerulean, I'm vistiting Misty."

"You know Misty!?" asked Ashley and Jezebel in complete unison which reminded Max irritably of Misty's sisters.

"Yeah, I was Misty's personal assistant for two years."

"Wow, I didn't even know that!" asked Jezebel.

"That's so cool!" exclaimed Ashley.

"Not as cool as competing in a contest!"

They all had a good laugh and talked about their plans.

Max traveled along the dark paths of Mount Moon. The chattering of zubats was a little eerie and Max felt the hair on his neck go up. On the side of the path there was boy with curly blond hair and a thicker build meditating. To his right sat a kadabra who was also meditating.

The boy opened his eyes as Max continued to look at them. "Hello," he said. His voice was gruff and Max had a suspicion he wasn't a people person.

Max smiled and nodded, "Hello, I'm sorry for bothering but I was admiring your abra. He looks very focused and well trained."

The boy nodded.

"I'm Max," said Max.

The boy stood up and called back his abra. "I'm Marcus, just call me Mark." He gathered his bag.

Max's Bubbles came out of its pokeball and jumped onto Max's shoulder.

"A poliwhirl?" asked Mark.

Max smiled as Bubbles hopped down to the ground. Max petted Bubbles, "Yep, his name is Bubbles."

Mark smiled, "Bubbles? Really?"

Max frowned, "Yes, is there a problem with that?"

Mark shook his head, "No, no problem."

"What brings you here? Or rather, where are you off to?"

Mark laughed, "I don't really know, when I'm through here I think I'll head to- "

Max nodded, "Through here, what does that mean?"

"I'm a miner."

"But, you have a kadabra?"

"I prefer psychic pokemon to the other types, but I enjoy mining so I mine for things using my kadabra, my drowzee and my geodude."

"Oh, sounds cool."

Mark shrugged, "Not really. I mean, I enjoy it but sitting in a cave mining all day isn't exactly most people's idea of fun.

Max nodded, "I guess."

"And where are you off to?" asked Mark.

"To Cerulean," Max said confidently. "I'm going to challenge Misty."

"Ah, you want to enter the indigo league then? And collect all eight badges?"

Max shook his head, "No, I want to be the best water trainer in the world. I figure gyms and even contests will help me further my dream!"

"Time to help us further our dream!"

Prepare for trouble

And make it double

To protect the world from devastation

To unite all peoples within our nation

To denounce the evils of truth and love

To extend our reach to the stars above

Sandra!

O'Conner!

Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light

Surrender now or prepare to fight

GOLBAT!

That's right!

"Not you again," said Max.

"You have met them too!" said Mark, suddenly very upset.

"Not these two but another two rocket members tried to steal Bubbles."

"Come on out Arbok!" cheered Sandra.

"I choose you Beedrill!" said O'Conner.

Sandra's bright blonde hair glistened, falling to her waist while O'Conner's red hair was shopped short.

"Were going to have to talk later," said Mark.

"Got it, Bubbles use water gun on his beedrill!"

"Drowzee go!" Sam threw out a pokeball and a drowzee came out, "confusion on Arbok!"

The two attacked but Team Rockets pokemon dodged.

"Realease them!" sang Sandra

O'Conner pressed a button on a remote and soon a swarm of beedrill was flying out of the blimp and straight at them.

"Water gun!"

The stream of water did a little bit of damage but not a lot, mainly because there were so many of them.

"Drowzee hypnosis!"

Again the attack took its toll but there were too many of them for any one attack to work.

"Bubbles!" Max called his Poliwhirl over. "Use hypnosis!"

"Drowzee use hypnosis!"

The combined hypnosis attack sent the mass of beedrill to sleep.

"Arbok use haze!"

"Beedrill use poison sting!"

Sandra's arbok sent a wave of dark smoke at both of their pokemon and Jacob's beedrill shot at Bubbles sending it flying back toward Max.

"Arbok use poison sting!"

"Beedrill use fury attack!'

With Bubbles already weak it was left to Drowzee alone to defend them. Needless to say the attacks overpowered them.

"Kadabra go! Teleport!"

"Poison sting!"

"Vine whip!"

Max and Mark teleported away leaving team rocket behind.

The air was heavier and Max found themselves in a small town to which he had never seen.

"Where are we?" asked Max.

"Mount Moon Town," replied Mark. "I just got back from here actually."

"Oh well thanks for getting us out of there."

"No problem. You're heading to Cerulean right?"

"Yeah."

"I actually have some business to attend to there."

"Okay, well I'm going to head through Mount Moon, is that okay?"

"Yeah no problem, I wasn't quite down there anyway."

"Hey," Max rubbed his stomach. "Are you hungry?"

Mark nodded, "I actually know this great place, here follow me."

They went up to a small café called 'Twirls' that seemed busy and were stopped by a girl and boy. They both had brown hair; the girl's was long and in pig tails while the boy's was cut short.

"Are you two going to eat here?" asked the boy.

Max raised his eyebrows and nodded.

"Then you must beat us..." exclaimed the girl.

"The Twirl Twins!" they cheered in unison.

Mark turned to Max, "At twirls you have to beat the two co owners in a pokemon battle."

"These two kids own this place?"

Mark nodded. "Now name your terms kids."

"It will be two pokemon each. I will use one and battle one of yours then when mine faints my sister will use hers and so on and so forth to the side with two fainted pokemon loses!"

Max grinned and took out a pokeball. "Let's do this!"

The male twin threw a pokeball out and a butterfree came out.

"Let me handle this!" cheered Max. "Come on out, Squirt!"

"Butterfree use tackle!"

"Rapid spin!"

Butterfree dove toward Squirt who withdrew into his shell and began to spin shooting Butterfree away.

"Squirt use water gun!"

"Dodge!"

Butterfree avoided the water stream.

"Butterfree use confusion!"

Squirt's shell was thrown against the street causing a car to swerve and avoid.

"Squirt water gun!"

"Confusion again!"

The water stream stopped mid air and flipped around and hit Squirt.

"It's okay Squirt hang in there!"

Squirt lifted itself up off the ground.

"Squirt use water gun!"

The water hit Butterfree and sent it flying.

"Finish it Squirt with another water gun!"

Butterfree was shot down out of the sky and the boy recalled it. The girl then bounced out of nowhere.

"My turn! Go Beedrill!"

"How many beedrill are we going to have to fight today!?" asked Max.

"Squirt use-"

"Max it's my turn!" exclaimed Sam.

Max recalled Squirt.

"Go! Geodude!" called Sam.

"Beedrill use poison sting!"

The poison needles bounced off of the geodude's hard exterior.

"Geodude use rock throw!"

Beedrill got knocked down out of the sky.

"Beedrill use fury attack!"

Again the attack proved ineffective and all too soon the beedrill was fainted. Max and Mark walked into the café and ordered their food.


	5. Misty

April 4, 2004

Mark and Max continued down the dark tunnels now completely lost.

"Since you're a miner shouldn't you know your way around down here!?" demanded Max.

Mark spun around angrily, "Listen buddy, worst case scenario my kadabra will teleport us back to Mount Moon town."

Max rolled eyes and the two continued to journey through the dark.

Suddenly Mark grabbed Max's shoulder.

"What was that for!?"

"Shut up!"

Max listened carefully straining his ears but heard nothing.

"Do you hear that?" asked Mark.

Max clenched his jaw, "No I don't. Are you sure you're not just imagining it?"

Mark covered Max's mouth. "I could have sworn there was something…"

A sweet song found its way to Max's ears and his eyes grew large. "I-hear-something-too!" he muttered through the hand that was still covering his mouth.

Mark lifted it off and Max repeated himself.

"I knew it," said Mark.

"Okay, so there's music," said Max. "What does that mean? Who's singing?"

Mark stroked his chin, "Uh…."

Max took out his pokedex and run the search, "Mount Moon's pokemon" through it. The pokedex began to speak in a cool voice.

"Pokemon that have been previously identified in Mount Moon are, zubat, paris, geodude, and very rarely, clefairy."

"Of course…" muttered Max.

"What?"

"I bet it's a clefairy! You know who rare those things are! And how powerful!" Max tingled with excitement. "We have got to check it out."

Max started down the path's toward the song with a new determination and Mark followed blindly afterward.

Eventually the two wandered into a large room filled with shining crystals and glowing orbs. The sweet song was stronger and more pronounced here yet they could see no clefairy anywhere.

"Hello!" Max called out. "We mean you no harm!"

A single clefairy hopped down in front of them. Max bent down and held out his hand.

"Hello there little guy."

The clefairy sighed, "I have a name you know."

Max's eyes grew large and he jumped back. "Yo-yo-you can talk!"

"No really!?" exclaimed the clefairy, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "I had no idea!"

Mark raised his eye brows, "Pokemon don't talk though…"

The clefairy laughed, "That's correct, so naturally I must just be a hallucination of yours."

Mark scratched his head, "I'm so lost."

The clefairy sighed again, "Listen, I consider myself to be a rather intelligent. I learned the English language when I was but a clefa, and now I can speak it quite fluently."

Max marveled, "Wow… that's incredible."

The clefairy nodded, "I know." He then extended his hand. "I'm Clete."

Max shook it. "It's truly an honor to meet you Clete."

Clete smiled, "Likewise... what's your name?"

"I'm Max Elm. And this is Marcus…"

"Marcus Gold." Mark extended a hand and Clete shook it.

"Well, allow me to introduce you to the last free village of the clefairy. Come on out!"

About a hundred clefairy came down from their dark perches and stood solidly by Clete.

"Let me introduce to my pokemon!" exclaimed Max. He let out Bubbles and Squirt.

"And mine!" Mark's pokemon, geodude, kadabra, and drowzee all came out.

Max's and Mark's pokemon gaped at the clefairy and then Clete started to talk to them using the language of pokemon.

"Cle, cle, clefairy!"

"Poli, Poli!"

"Kadabra!"

"Hmm…" Clete muttered, "Your pokemon seem very happy. Congratulations."

"Thank you," replied Max.

"Ya thanks… I guess…" muttered Mark.

Clete said something to the clefairy and soon the other clefairy were conversing with Max and Mark's pokemon.

"This is amazing… Clete do you mind if I film some of this?" asked Max.

Clete shook his head, "I would rather you not. We are already a small population if your video ever got out then more trainers would come and catch us, even if they were good trainers and would treat them right we can't afford to lose many more clefairy. We need our numbers to stand up against the other pokemon, keep the peace in the caves, and summon the clefables when we need them."

Max nodded, "Right."

"Thank you," said Clete, "but for now, feel free to take notes and talk to the other clefairy, they can't speak English, but I'm sure you'll get what they're saying." Clete then turned to Mark. "I heard from your pokemon that you're a miner. This clefairy here-" A clefariy jumped to Clete's side. "Is very good at locating stones, you two have fun."

Mark nodded and set off with the clefairy and his pokemon.

April 10, 2004

After their visit to the dark tunnels of Mount Moon; Mark and Max found themselves in beautiful blue city of Cerulean.

"Isn't it amazing!" exclaimed Max, running up to a small fountain.

"I guess…" said Mark. His dirty rugged appearance made him seem more out of place than usual. "I actually have some business I need to attend to. You know, I picked up a lot of stones thanks to that clefairy."

"Awesome! Well then I'm off to the gym. Meet you at the pokemon center tonight okay?"

"Right."

Max set off toward the gym building and was not disappointed. The large blue building was surrounded by fountains and green hedges. And Max pushed open the clear doors. The inside was somehow even more spectacular. The front lobby was just as Max remembered, large and with couches everywhere. The 'walls' were clear and were really an aquarium that wrapped around the whole gym filled with a variety of water pokemon.

Misty came into the lobby from a side hall and ran up to Max.

"MAX!!!!"

"Misty!!"

Misty and Max hugged.

"So!" she began, "How has your journey been over the past few weeks?"

"Well I have a new pokemon!"

"Awesome!"

Max threw a pokeball up into the air. "Go Squirt!"

"Wow a wartortle! I take it Oak gave it to you?"

Max nodded.

"Well congrats, it looks tough!"

"Thanks!"

"And did you get any badges yet?"

"Yeah, I got the boulder badge from Brock. I think I'm going to challenge you next."

"Oh no, I'm quaking in my boots! Haha I'm kidding but I'm sure you'll win! You want to battle now?"

Max shook his head, "Not yet I was hoping you could help me train first. And I don't want you to use your gym pokemon… I want you to use your best pokemon!"

Misty laughed, "Max listen, if I were to use my most powerful pokemon you would be crushed, it just wouldn't be fair."

"I know I won't win, but I want to battle with them anyway!"

Misty sighed, "Okay, but let's train first, like you said."

Misty led Max to a large pool Max had seen hundreds of times before. It was the hall where Misty practiced and he had grown quite accustomed to it.

"Well Max let's see how well your pokemon fare in water. I know Bubbles is good at it but I doubt Squirt had ever battled in it. You should get him used to it."

"Right, Squirt, Bubbles into the pool!"

Squirt and Bubbles happily dove into the water. Bubbles began to swim about but Squirt looked a bit unsure.

"Okay, so if Squirt is going to get used to battling and being in water you need to work on speed, it's gets them comfortable while improving speed in water, kills two birds with one stone!" exclaimed Misty.

"Squirt, Bubbles swim to the other side of the pool!"

Squirt and Bubbles took off and Bubbles easily beat Squirt.

"Okay, swim back here, and Squirt really kick it in to gear!"

Squirt picked up the pace and soon Bubbles was only barely beating Squirt in the speed compartment.

"I think I'm ready Misty!"

Misty shook her head as she placed his pokeballs in the healing machine.

"Max, how about I use my gym pokemon, that's what I used against everyone else who wants my badge?"

"Misty you and I both know I would win against your regular old gym pokemon. But if I go up against your original powerful pokemon…"

"You'll lose." Misty handed Max his now healed pokemon. "Max if you want to do this fine, but I think you're making a big mistake."

"Even if I do lose Misty my pokemon will be much stronger."

Misty nodded, "True." She walked over to a P.C. and withdrew some pokemon. "Let's do this then. Two on two. I'll even go first." She spun around with great gusto and threw out a pokeball over the pool. "Go Staryu!"

Staryu cart wheeled out and majestically flew over the field landed gracefully in the water.

Max breathed deeply, "Go Squirt!"

"Ready Max?"

Max nodded, "Go!"

"Thunder!"

"Rapid spin!"

Squirt withdrew into its shell but was shocked severely, despite the improved defense.

"Squirt use water gun!"

"Confusion!"

Before Squirt could shoot the water it was sent flying back and fainted.

Max gaped and withdrew Squirt. "Good job buddy. Okay… Go Bubbles!"

"Staryu use rapid spin!"

"Bubbles use hypnosis!"

Staryu's attack went right through the hypnosis and hit Bubbles. Bubbles went flying and was barely able to stand.

"Bubbles use hypnosis!"

Staryu dodged.

"Staryu thunder!"

"Dodge!"

The lightning attack was so fast that Bubbles couldn't even move before it was struck down.

"I win," said Misty. "You did better than I thought you would."

"Thanks."

"Remember to keep training hard!"

"Thanks Misty, hope to see you soon!"

"Bye Max!"

Max left the gym and looked at his watch. It wasn't time to meet Mark so he headed to a large pool by the pokemon center. He tossed his rod and waited.

There was a small tug on his rod and Max lifted it from the water. On the edge of the rod was a magikarp and Max immediately sent out Bubbles.

"Bubbles use water gun!"

The magikarp dodged the water gun and then splashed around.

"Umm… hypnosis!"

The magikarp fell asleep and simply floated in the water.

"Uh… water gun!"

Bubbles hit magikarp and it shot back in the water, still floating. Max threw out a lure ball and the magikarp went into the ball. Within seconds the ball returned to Max's hand, a newly captured magikarp within.

Max smiled and sent it out. He pulled out his pokedex to check magikarps gender. Female. "Alright, Splash," said Max, "welcome to the party."

The magikarp smiled up at him.

April 11, 2004

Max and Mark journeyed through the grassy fields and soon Mark ran ahead spotting something.

"What is it?" asked Max.

Mark turned his head and called back, "It's a venonat!"

"Hey are you going to catch it?" asked Max running over to Mark.

"Why?"

"Well venonat and venomoth learn a ton of psychic moves…"

"Oh! I should!" Mark threw out a pokeball and his kadabra came out. "Kadabra use-"

"Not so fast!"

Max and Mark turned to see a young boy wearing a long robe.

"This exeggcute is mine!"

"I saw it first!" demanded Mark.

"No I did!" The trainer glared at Mark and Mark returned the look.

A butterfree flew above the other trainers head. "I have an idea," he said.

Mark gave him a puzzled look, "What?"

"I challenge you to a pokemon battle! Winner gets to catch the venonat!"

"I accept!"

"I'll keep the venonat stable," said Max. "Bubbles use hypnosis!" Bubbles jumped out of nowhere and venonat fell asleep. "Okay, the venonat isn't going anywhere."

The other trainer nodded, "Right. I'm Lungon of Viridian City!"

"I'm Mark of Pewter City!"

"Go Butterfree!"

"Go Kadabra!"

"Whirlwind!"

"Teleport!"

Butterfree blew a small tornado at Kadabra who teleported away.

"Fire punch!"

Kadabra appeared above Butterefree and slammed it with a fiery fist.

"Butterfree use confusion!"

"Teleport!"

Butterfree used confusion but Kadabra teleported away.

"Now Kadabra use psybeam!"

"Light screen!"

Butterfree conjured a block of light in front of it that reflected Kadabra's attack and threw it back.

"No Kadabra!"

"Butterfree use whirl wind!"

Kadabra went flying back again.

"Butterfree now use tackle!"

"Teleport!"

Kadabra disappeared again. And Butterfree, before it hit the ground, pulled itself up and dove into the air.

"Kadabra use psybeam!"

"Butterfree use psybeam!"

The two psychic attacks met and seemed evenly matched.

"Come on Butterfree!"

"Just a bit more Kadabra!"

The two psychic attacks caused a large explosion and smoke filled the air.

"Kadabra!"

"Butterfree!"

The smoke cleared and Butterfree had fainted while Kadabra was barely standing.

"NO!"

"Awesome! Good job Kadabra!" Mark spun around to see the sleeping venonat. "Go pokeball!" He threw the great ball and venonat went in, not putting up a fight. "I caught myself a venonat!"

Lungon looked down, "Good job."

"You too!"

Mark continued to marvel at his new pokemon and Max watched. He knew what he had to do next.

"Saffron here we come."


	6. Kung Fu Fighting!

April 12, 2004

Max and Mark made their way into Saffron City. The buildings were amazingly tall and all were brightly lit.

"Wow… what to do first?" asked Max.

"Well I'm going to test my psychic skills," said Mark.

"What?" asked Max.

"I'm going to battle Sabrina at the cities main gym. I've always wanted to face her."

"Want me to come along?"

Mark stroked his chin, "I wouldn't mind, but don't you have to pick up some supplies."

"Oh yeah…"

"Later Max!" Mark set off toward the edge of town.

Max sighed and went to the pokemart and picked up some potions and other useful heals. It took him less time then he thought because no one was in the mart except the store keeper and he went to the pokemon center he knew why. On a television in the center was the pokemon contest that was going o nin the contest hall. Max saw as Jezbel and tall boy were battlign it out in what appeared to be the finals. Jezebel was comanding her gloom, while the boy was ordering around his vulpix.

"Gloom use acid!"

"Vulpix agility! The nuse ember!"

Vulpix doged with ease and then sent a flurry of flames at Jezbel's gloom who took severe damage. She lost more points and it looked like she was almost out. Her opponent, the boy, however seemed to have almost all of his points still.

"Gloom use grass knot!"

"Vulpix dodge!"

Vulpix went to dodge when it tripped over a tiny bit of grass that had appeared out of nowhere. The boy lost some points but he was still far in the lead with the clock ticking down.

"Gloom use mega drain!"

"Flamethrower!"

The two attacks met and Vulpix's beat Gloom's, sending it flying back and causing Jezebel to loose the remainder of her points.

ERRR!

The match ended and the boy and Jezebel shook hands. Lillian went to announce something when Max decided to leave the center and he made his way over to the contest hall.

Sure enough Jezebel was making her way out of the contest hall and when she saw Max she smiled.

"Hey Max!"

"Hey Jezebel!"

"What's up!"

"Nothing much, I saw your contest match on TV, good job!"

She laughed, "No it wasn't, he creamed me. My gloom cannot stand strong against fire attacks. I should have used my exeggcute."

"You have an exeggcute?"

"Yeah, I have my gloom, as you know, and of coures you have met ivysuar, or Weedwacker as I call him. I have exeggcute, and then finally I have weepingbell. Well, I'm actually going to head to Mount Moon now. Last time I was there I got really close to catching a paris and this time I know I will."

Max's stomach sank. Jezebel had four pokemon, all of which were already at higher levels, and she had already planned her next pokemon. He had three and one was a magikarp!

"Something wrong?" she asked.

"Oh no… how many contest have you won?"

"Well, still only two, but I still have time."

"For the grand festival?"

"OH no! Sure that would fun to compete there. But I'm trying to qualify for the Indigo Cup."

"Indigo Cup?"

"Yeah, in order to qualify you have to earn over ten points." Jezebel continued after seeing Max's completely confused face. "In order to qualify for the Indigo Cup you need more than ten points. You earn points by doing the following. For every badge you get, you get one point. For every ribbon you get, you get two points. And for every town or city competition, like tournaments, ect, you get one point."

"I see… so you have four?"

"No I have seven. I got the Boulder, Cascade, and Earth Badge."

Max's jaw dropped. She was two contests away from qualifying.

"So considering the point system how many do you have?" she asked.

Max thought about the single badge he had obtained and was starting to wish Misty had used her gym pokemon. "Well… I kind of have… one."

"Oh…" Jezebel seemed a bit disappointed but then smiled up at him. "Don't worry you just need the points by august first. I'm sure you'll have them by then! In fact… there's a contest in Celadon tomorrow. I'll be there, and I'm sure you'd have a lot of fun! Until then, bye!"

Max waved to her and then sighed. He would msot definitely loose to her in a contest, but hey, what did he have to lose except time. Time, the thought of that stopped him. Sure he had a few months, but he still had at least ten more points to earn. He shook his head. There was a fighting gym in the city. HE would get that badge and get one step closer.

Max knocked against the small oak doors. One of them opened and a young boy in a karate uniform let Max in.

"Welcome to the Fighting Dojo's special gym. And remember we know hand out official badges!"

"Awesome!" exclaimed Max. "Where is the Karate King?"

"Right here."

Max turned to see an incredibly large man in white robes that were torn from training.

"Are you hear to challenge me?"

Max nodded, "I'm Max Elm of New Bark Town."

The man laughed and his deep booming voice shook the gym. "Well the let's battle. Georgie, you're the referee got it?"

Georgie, the boy from before nodded. "Alright. This match is between Max Elm of New Bark Town and the Karate King of Saffron City. Each trainer is allowed three pokemon. Only the challenger may make substitutions. And the gym leader will choose first."

"Alright, go Fists!"

The Karate King threw out a pokeball and inside was a hitmonchan.

"Go Squirt!"

Squirt flipped of its ball.

"Fists use thunder punch!"

"Squirt use rapid spin!"

Squirt withdrew to its shell and spun but the upon Fists thunder punch making contact Squirt flew back against the wall.

"Squirt use water gun!"

"Dodge!"

Fists shot out of the way of the incoming water gun.

"Thunderpunch!"

"Dodge Squirt!"

Squirt dodged the series of thunder punches.

"Water gun!"

Squirt jumped up and hit Fists with a powerful stream of water.

"Fists hang in there and use thunder punch!"

"Rapid spin!"

Again Squirt withdrew into its shell and spun hoping to reduce the thunder damage. Fists knocked the shell back into a wall and Squirt was starting to weaken.

"Squirt use water gun!"

"Thunder punch!"

"Dodge!"

Squirt jumped up avoiding the thunder punch and then shot a thick stream of water that knocked Fists back against the wall.

"Rapid spin!"

While Fists was still up against the wall Squirt spun and hit it repeatedly.

"No!"

"Fists is unable to battle!" announced Georgie. "Squirt wins!"

"Returen Fists." The Karate King recalled his pokemon and then sent out another. "Go Kicks!"

A hitmonlee came out and kicked around, showing off.

"Squirt use water gun!"

"Dodge and use jump kick!"

Squirt's attack missed and Kicks brought up its leg and sent Squirt flying.

"Squirt hang in there! Use water gun!"

Kicks flew back pushed up against by the powerful water attack.

"Now use rapid spin!"

"Mega kick!"

Squirt flew toward Kicks who simply jumped up and kicked the incoming shell away. Squirt hit the wall and fainted.

"Squirt is unable to battle, Kicks wins!"

"Return Squirt, and good job!" Mac recalled Squirt and then threw out another pokeball. "Go Splash!"

Splash came out of its pokeballs and splashed around on the ground.

"A magikarp!?!?!?" laughed the Karate King. "This will be easier than I thought."

"Don't let me down Splash…" muttered Max.

"Mega kick!"

"Dodge!"

Kicks ran over and went to kick Splash, but Splash avoided the kick with incredible speed.

"Splash use tackle!"

Splash splashed about confused as to what to do.

"It was worth a shot," he muttered.

"Jump kick!"

"Dodge!"

Kicks sent a series of powerful kicks at Splash but she dodged them all.

"Keep up the speed Splash!"

Kick after kick Splash dodged and eventually Kicks was starting to get tired.

"Good job Splash! Return!" Max called her back and threw out another pokeball. "Go Bubbles water gun!"

Bubbles came out and quickly fired a water gun taking Kicks by surprise and blasting it against the wall.

"Kicks use mega kick!"

"Dodge and use hypnosis!"

Kicks lifted its leg but Bubbles jumped up and sent a flourish of clear rings downward. Kicks fell down asleep.

"Double slap!"

Bubbles pounded on Kicks, slap after slap. The Karate King kept yelling at Kicks but was powerless to change pokemon.

"Hitmonlee is unable to battle!"

The Karate King recalled Kicks and then threw out another pokeball. "Go Toppers!"

A hitmontop spun out of the pokeball.

"Toppers use rapid spin!"

"Bubbles dodge!"

Bubbles tried to dodge but took a heavy blow.

"Bubble beam!"

"Counter!"

The beam of bubbles was reflected back at Bubbles who barely avoided it.

"Toppers use triple kick!"

"Dodge and use body slam!"

Bubbles flipped back avoiding all the three kicks and then jumped on Toppers dealing a lot of damage.

"Bubbles full power bubble beam!"

As Toppers lay on the ground Bubbles bombarded it with bubbles.

"Toppers use quick attack!"

"Bubbles use mud shot!"

Toppers sped toward Bubbles who shot ground balls at him. Toppers toppled over and fell to the ground.

"Bubbles use water gun!"

Bubbles shot a stream of water at Toppers who then fainted.

"Toppers is unable to battle, the winner of this battle and the match is Bubbles, and Max!"

Max smiled and hugged Bubbles.

The Karate King walked over and handed Max a badge shaped like a torso with a black belt wrapped around it.

"This is the Black Belt Badge. You have earned it."

"Thank you," nodded Max.

"No problem, and good luck on your adventure."

"Thanks again!" And with that Max left the gym. He made his way to the pokemon center and saw Mark waiting. "Hey!"

Mark looked up, "Oh hey."

"How did your match go?"

"I lost… her kadabra is really strong…"

Max frowned, "I'm sorry."

"It's no problem I'll try again later."

"Alright, you want to head to Celadon tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Should I book a room?"

"Already did."

"Okay… well night."

"Night."


	7. Contesting Spirits

April 13, 2004

Max adjusted his blue tie wondering whether he had lost his mind.. He was behind stage with the other coordinators getting ready to be called out.

"Hey kid!"

Max spun around to see Jezebel.

"Jezebel!"

"That's right Max long time no see!? Hahaha!"

A cool voice came over the speakers. "Our first contestant will be Jezebel!"

"Later!" she called.

Max watched as on the screen she stepped out.

"Take the stage!" she spun around. "Come on out… Gloom!"

Gloom came out of its pokeball and posed gracefully.

"Gloom use vine whip to flip yourself into the air! Then use poison powder and follow up with poison sting!"

Gloom shot out two vines that it used to flip itself up high. Then it released a large amount of spores and powders. Finally it shot a series poison shoots into the mass fog of spores and powders causing a series of fireworks to go off.

"Gloom finish things with a spin down."

Gloom fell to the ground and spun landing solidly on Jezebel's head posing, arms spread wide mimicking Jezebel.

"And look at those amazing combo's!!!!" screamed Lillian. "That was absolutely incredible."

The audience roared with applause and Max's jaw dropped.

"That was…" Mark's voice trailed off.

Max pulled himself together. "You can say it. It was an incredible performance." Max gripped the pokeball in his hand. "But I've put a lot of work into this routine and trust me it's a match to hers!

"Good thing you just need to make the top eight," muttered Max.

"Oh good!" called Jezebel now standing behind Max. "You saw my performance right? Of course you did who would miss a performance like that!? That was the best run we've ever had!"

Max smiled, "Good job!"

After a few very mediocre performances Max was called.

He stepped out and stopped clenching his teeth and smiled wide.

"Let's do this thing! Bubbles!"

Bubbles flipped out and landed on Max's head. It waved to the audience.

Max bit his lip trying to balance Bubbles on his head.

"Bubbles use water gun!"

Bubbles jumped up and shot a stream of water into the air.

"Now hypnosis!"

The see through rings became blue as they hit the water gun forming series of water rings in the air that circled Bubbles.

"Jump onto them and then come down with bubble!"

Bubbles jumped from water ring to water ring, each disappeared after he stepped on them. After he stepped on the last ring he shot down a large group of bubbles and after bouncing on them he landed safely on the ground.

"Let's finish with water gun and double slap!"

Bubbles shot a stream of water up and then ripped it apart with double slap. Water went everywhere and Lillian gaped.

"What a great performance!"

Max waved and then back stage. Jezebel and Mark made their way over to him and congratulated him.

"That was amazing!" exclaimed Jezebel.

"It was really good!" added Mark.

Max let out a small smile, he knew that they were just being nice but it still felt good to get the compliments. "Thanks, guys."

"No problem, you'll definitely make the top eight," stated Jezebel.

Within an hour's time eight faces appeared on the TV screen one by one. The first one was of Jezebel, then a few boys, four girls and the last picture… Max.

"You did it!" exclaimed Jezebel.

"I know! And so did you!"

"I know!"

Mark rolled his eyes, "I'm never doing a contest."

"Alright Max I have to go to my battle see you soon!"

Jezebel's first battle was hardly a battle. Within the first two minutes she had caused her opponent's pokemon to faint while keeping almost all of her points.

All too soon it was Max's turn and he walked out slowly. He high fived Jezebel on his way out and then found himself back out on the stage. There were at least a thousand people up in the stands and Max became very nervous.

"In our next match we have Max Elm from New Bark Town and Kelly Jones from Pallet Town!" announced Lillian.

Max looked across the field to see a tall brunette.

"Go Crabs!"

A kingler flipped out of the pokeball and snapped its pincers together.

Max lifted a pokeball into the air, "I choose…"

Suddenly from Max's belt a pokeball went off and Splash began to splash around.

"NO!!!" bellowed Max.

"Uhh an interesting choice by Max, sending out a magikarp while Kelly starts strong with her kingler…"

Behind stage Mark slapped his forehead and Jezebel sighed.

"Crabs! Use bubble beam!"

"Splash dodge!"

Splash rolled out of the way of the bubbles and Kelly lost some points.

"Cut!"

Splash was taken off guard and got hit by the slashing claw. Max lost some points.

"Cut again!"

"Splash and dodge!"

Splash used splash and avoided the cut attacks reducing Kelly's points.

"Mud shot!"

"Dodge!"

Splash dodged the first few mud shots causing Kelly to lose points but eventually Splash got slammed with a direct hit shot.

"Crabs use stomp!"

"Splash dodge! Please!"

Crabs stomped toward Splash who rolled around avoiding the attacks. Kelly lost major points and she was starting to get frusterated.

"Crabs!! It is a freaking MAGIKARP! Come on!"

Crabs turned around and snapped its pincirs at her angrily.

"Splash… use tackle!"

"Wait what?" asked Kelly looking up confused.

Splash jumped up and rammed Crabs pushing it back a bit. Kelly lost some points but not a lot. Her point value was almost to zero and she lost it.

"No more nice guy! Bubble beam! Followed by metal claw!"

"Crud… Splash dodge and use tackle!"

Crabs' bubbles missed Splash causing Kelly to lose more points but the metal claw did major damage. Max lost some points but he was still winning. Splash then spun around and dove toward Crabs.

"Harden!"

Splash rammed the hard exoskeleton and flipped back taking some damage. Max lost even more points.

"Stomp!"

"Dodge!"

Splash again rolled out of the way and Kelly's point dropped down to zero.

"I…. I won…."

"With a quite unusual performance, Max and… Splash move on to the next round," announced Lillian.

Max shook Kelly's hand then moved back stage to find a bewildered Jezebel and Mark.

"Umm… I don't know whether to congratulate you or laugh," stated Jezebel."

"I agree with that," said Mark.

Max laughed and Jezebel went out to her next battle.

After another flawless battle on her part Max went out to his battle in the final four.

"Wish me luck!" he exclaimed.

Mark laughed, "You'll need more than just luck."

Max laughed and went out to his next battle.

He tossed out his pokeball and Splash came out.

His opponent, Keith, sent out a chansey.

"Chancsey use egg bomb!"

"Splash dodge!"

Splash moved to dodge but was hammered by the attack instead. Max lost some points.

"Chansey use double edge!"

"Dodge!"

Chansey charged Splash who failed to dodge. Max lost some points and Splash looked very exhausted.

"Time to take the offensive Splash, use tackle!"

"Chansey protect!"

Splash rammed the chansey just to be thrown back causing Max to lose more points.

"Chansey use egg bomb again!"

"Splash dodge!"

Splash attempted to dodge but was unable to and therefore fainted. With two and a half minutes left Max walked off the field a little disappointed but not surprised that he had lost.

Jezebel won the contest after a close match with Keith and afterwards Max and Mark went to congratulate her.

"Thanks you two," she said excitedly. "Well I have to go… see you around guys!"

Max and Mark waved to her as she walked out of the contest hall a little bounce to her step.

"So Max," said Mark, "about the Indigo Cup thing you were telling me about… doesn't she only need two more points?"

Max nodded, "Yeah I know… I have two!" He looked down.

"Well I have zero," shrugged Mark, "don't' see me complaining."

Max shook his head, "You're right I'm being stupid. Still… I think I'm going to head to the Celedon gym now…"

"Kay."

Erika's black hair fell loosely into her face as she danced about the flower infested gym.

"Umm… excuse me?" asked Max.

She spun around and smiled, "Here for some herbs perhaps? Maybe some tea?"

"I'm actually here to challenge you to a battle… please."

Her smiled faded into a slightly disappointed look, "Oh alright I guess." She made her way through the back and gestured for him to follow.

The back of the shop was a large garden with battle field lines drawn on it with something that did not appear to be paint. Erika turned to a woman tending to some plants and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Could you referee dear?"

"Of course!" The woman with black hair moved to the center of the field. "This match is a three on three match. Only the challenger may substitute pokemon, and the gym leader will choose first."

"Go Tangella!"

"Go Squirt!"

"Vine whip!"

"Rapid spin!"

Tangella's body sent out dozens of vines at Squirt. Squirt spun around and for the most blocked them.

"Tangella use absorb!"

"Rapid spin!"

Squirt blocked absorb as he had blocked the previous attack.

"Tangella grab the shell with vine whip!"

While Squirt was still withdrawn in its shell Tangella grabbed it with a vine and sent it flying against a wall.

"Squirt use bite!"

Squirt came out of its shell and slid down the vine whip unleashing a wicked bite attack when it reached its target.

"Tangella use absorb!"

Squirt suffered the full extent of the powerful super effective attack.

"Squrit use bubble!"

Squirt shot a series of bubble at Tangella sending it far away from it and doing a small amount of damage at the same time.

"Tangella use giga-drain!"

"Water gun!"

Squirt's attack was not as powerful as Tangella's and as a result took severe damage.

"Come on Max!" cheered Mark.

"Okay Squirt use tackle!"  
Squirt spun to face Tangella and rammed it.

"Tangella no!"

Tangella toppled over and was about to faint.

"Tangella use absorb!"

"Bite!"

Squirt took the hit and then bit Tangella causing it to faint.

"Return Tangella!" Erika recalled it and then spun around. "Go Victreebel! Razor leaf!"

"Squirt use bubble!"

Victreebel's sharp leaves cut through Squirt's bubbles and knocked him back and causing him to faint.

"Return Squirt, and good job!" Max grabbed another pokeball from his belt. "Go Splash!"

Splash splashed around in the grass and Mark slapped his forehead.

"Okay Victreebel let's end this quick with razor leaf!"

"Dodge!"

Splash rolled out of the way but barely in time.

"Solar beam!"

"Tackle!"

Splash charged the sun absorbing Victrebel and hit it but did little damage. Soon Victreebel released its energy and took Splash our in one hit.

"Good job Splash! Return!" Max recalled it and then took out yet another pokeball. "Go Bubbles!"

"Victreebel use vine whip!"

"Bubble grab hold of the vine!"

The vine that shot toward Bubbles was caught by Bubbles and then he sent Victreebel flying.

"Victreebel use razor leaf!"

"Bubbles use bubble beam!"

The two attacks were a standoff and both pokemon went flying back.

"Victreebel use stun spore!"

"Bubbles use water gun!"

The water attack did nothing against the incoming spores and Bubbles was paralyzed.

"Victreebel use solar beam!"

"Bubbels use bubble beam!"

Bubbles went to move but froze in place. Victreebel released the energy and Bubbles went flying back crashing into a tree.

"Bubbles you okay!?"

Bubbles stood back up slowly.

"Water-"

The ceiling broke open and a man came crashing down. He was wearing black clothes with a black cape.

"GO MUK!"

A large pile of dark goo came out of his pokeball. Erika watched in horror and could barely stand straight.

"Bubbles use water gun!"  
"Muk absorb it!"

Muk swallowed the water and got bigger.

Mark jumped up and threw out a pokeball. "Go Kadabra! Psybeam!"

Kadabra shot a beam of psychic energy at Muk who flew back.

"Muk use sludge bomb!"

Muk threw a bit of goo at Kadabra who teleported out of the way.

"Bubbles use bubble beam!"

"Psybeam!"

The two attack sent muk against the wall.

"Muk swallow them!"

Muk swelled up and covered Kadabra and Bubbles with its excess goo.

"Drowzee go!" called Mark. "Confusion!"

Drowzee came out and sent Muk flying back causing it to faint.

Muk was returned the man swore. He tossed out another pokeball with a beedrill. "Poison sting!"

Erika snapped out of her paralysis, "Victreebel use razor leaf!"

Beedrill was K.O.'d in one hit and after a flash of light both the fainted beedrill and e mysterious man had disappeared.

"Who was that?" asked Mark.

The referee spoke up, "A Team Rocket representative no doubt. They have been very active in Celedon lately."

"Hey Erika?" asked Max, "What happened? You just froze…"

Erika looked down, "I… I don't like grimer or muk…"

Max gave her a quizzical look but she shook her head.

"Not now, you want to finish our battle?"

Max shook his head, "We'll finish it another time. I think I need to train more."

Erika nodded, "Very well."

Mark and Max left the gym and set off to the pokemon center to heal there pokemon.

A tall gangly looking man was running around with a bundle in his arms and he looked quite frantic. When he saw Mark and Max he ran up to them.

"Hello trainers, how would you like to carry this pokemon egg!!"

"What?" asked Mark.

"I said how would one of you like to carry this charming little pokemon egg!?"

"You said carry," said Max. "Not keep."

The figure laughed and seemed quite embarrassed, "Yeah… eggs won't hatch unless they are carried around but I don't have room in my party. I need someone to carry it for a few weeks…"

Max sighed, "I'll do it."  
"Really!?" exclaimed the man.

"Really?" asked Mark.

Max nodded. "Really."

Max accepted the bundles of cloth with the egg. The man then handed max a slip of paper.

"That's my number in case there are problems. What's yours?"

Max pulled out a card out of his pack that his number and address on it and handed it to the man.

"Wait," said the man. "You're Max Elm?"

Max nodded, "Yeah."

The man smiled and held out his hand, "I'm Bill."

Max and Mark gaped as they realized they were standing in the presence of a legend.


End file.
